Jackie Chan’s 32-year-old son, Jaycee, has been arrested as part of the Chinese government’s drug crackdown in Beijing. The plus side is that it was only weed, the downside is that it was a lot of weed, and he got caught in mainland China.
Police say they detained Jaycee Chan, who is originally from Hong Kong and also an actor, as well as Kai Ko, a 23-year-old Taiwanese actor, during a raid on Thursday in Dongcheng district, the city’s commercial and cultural center, state media, citing Beijing police, said Tuesday.
Both men tested positive for marijuana.
Police later found more than 100 grams of the drug after searching Chan’s apartment. He was also accused of “hosting others to take drugs,” the state-run China Daily said. He could face three years in jail under Chinese law.
The two actors are being seen as the targets of the capital’s latest anti-drugs campaign, which has seen more than 7,000 people detained for using drugs, a 72% year-on-year increase, according to the China Daily.
Celebrities are increasingly in the spotlight, with a number of high-profile arrests over drug-related incidents in recent months, including popular movie actor Zhang Mo and singer Li Daimo, who was actually sentenced to nine months in jail for hosting a crystal meth party at his home, according to the China Daily. [CNN]
To add further embarrassment, Jackie Chan has actually been an outspoken drugs campaigner and was named China’s anti-drugs ambassador in 2009 (not sure what those duties include, since “Anti-Drugs” isn’t even a country). He’s also generated mild outrage in the past for being a bit of an apologist for oppressive government tactics, saying things like he’s “not sure” if personal freedom is a good thing and that the Chinese people “need to be controlled”. Sounding like, well, like exactly the kind of strict parent whose kid ends up doing lots of drugs (though he’s always seemed incredibly nice to me).
As for Jaycee Chan, who was raised in LA and attended William And Mary before moving to Hong Kong, he apparently has been trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, but it hasn’t been going so well. In 2009, he starred in Double Trouble, which turned out to be a major failure, grossing only $9,000 in his home territory of Hong Kong. In 2011, he teamed up with his father for 1911, which also ended up being a flop, and his father’s worst reviewed film to date. Jackie Chan has also said publicly that he would be giving his massive fortune to charity rather than leave it to his son.
All of which leaves me somewhat conflicted about China. I don’t agree with their harsh anti-drug policies, but I do agree with their harsh, anti-children-of-celebrities attitude. I wish Jackie Chan had rubbed off a bit on Will Smith, whose son was getting to design sneakers with pictures of himself on them just as Jaycee Chan was getting disinherited. And let’s be honest, Jaycee Chan could’ve released a video tape of himself getting taken from behind by a prostitute dressed like Kim Jong-Un and it’d still be less embarrassing that one of Jaden Smith’s tweets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9GhW6aD5C4